Pitoíois was sitting on the ground and crying. Her eyes were so swollen they could scarcely be seen. Wus kept teasing her to go to his house, but she wouldn’t go, no matter what he promised.
The next morning, when the five brothers went to hunt, they kept near together. They killed a deer and built a fire and roasted some of the meat. What they didn’t roast, they hung on a tree. All the bones were left on the ground. While they were eating, the youngest brother heard something and he listened. His brothers noticed that he stopped eating.
“What is the matter?” asked the eldest brother.
“I’ve bitten my tongue.”
“No, it’s not that; you hear something.”
Then he told them that he heard the cry that he had heard before. They didn’t hear it, but they said: “We will find out what it is.” As they followed the youngest brother, they all heard the cry. When they came to the top of the mountain, where Wus was when he was singing, they looked down into the valley and saw a beautiful girl sitting on the ground, crying. They knew who she was but they were afraid to go to her; they were afraid of her brothers. Then they saw that a man was lying with his head on her lap, and they knew it was Wus.
“If we save her,” said one of the brothers, “which of us will have her?”
“I don’t want a wife,” said the eldest brother; “our youngest brother can have her.”
The youngest brother shot an arrow. It went under the ground and came out near Wus. He jumped. The brothers went down the mountain, the youngest in front. When he got to where the girl was sitting, he snatched her away from Wus. Wus turned into a fox and ran off. Then the young man took Pitoíois by the hand and sprang with her over five mountains, a spring for each mountain.
His brothers said: “What shall we do to keep the old man [[323]]from eating this girl? She is too nice to be eaten up. We must watch him all the time and kill him if he tries to get her.”